Leading Experts Discuss Practice Management & Epilepsy On Epilog.us

MAPLE GROVE, Minn., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc. [http://www.upsher-smith.com] today announced that subscribers to Epilog.us can now access the latest information related to Practice Management & Epilepsy at http://www.Epilog.us.  Led by Dr. Aatif Husain, Director of the Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship, Professor of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Duke University Medical Center, and Dr. John Stern, Co‐Director of the Seizure Disorder Center and Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, areas of focus include:  the importance of billing code accuracy; commonly utilized billing codes in epilepsy and neurology; and epilepsy quality measures from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/58062-upsher-smith-epilog-us-practice-management-epilepsy-resources-available

"Physicians generally do not want to deal with coding and billing-related issues, that is a reality.  Unfortunately, another reality is that we have to deal with these issues," said Dr. Husain.  "It is often difficult to determine the most appropriate billing codes that one can use.  I'm happy to say that as far as common epilepsy ICD-9 codes (as well as common CPT codes) are concerned, these are available in the billing codes compendium available on the Epilog.us website."

Relative to AAN's epilepsy quality measures, Dr. Stern stated, "The American Academy of Neurology has spearheaded the creation of these quality measures for epilepsy, but their drafting included the other professional societies that have a focus on epilepsy.  These measures are in many ways recommendations and good reminders for what aspects of care in the treatment of epilepsy should get primary attention in a typical office visit.  I believe including these measures in practice is an important step forward and a trigger to think more about overall, optimal care for people with epilepsy."

The resources available on Epilog.us related to Practice Management & Epilepsy include:

• Educational Billing Codes Video featuring Dr. Aatif Husain:  in the video, Dr. Husain discusses key ICD-9 and CPT codes as they pertain to treating patients with epilepsy.
• Downloadable Billing Codes Compendium with a summary of key billing codes related to the treatment of patients with epilepsy.
• Epilepsy Quality Measure Video featuring Dr. John Stern:  in the video, Dr. Stern provides an overview of the epilepsy quality measures published in a special article from the American Academy of Neurology.¹
• Additional Practice Management & Epilepsy topics include:  frequently asked questions; agree/disagree statements; and an online polling question.

Epilog.us is a disease awareness website offering healthcare professionals who treat epilepsy current evidence-based scientific data, dialogue on modern therapy issues, and expert insights provided by some of the field's most respected clinicians.  The site features regularly updated content including videos, white papers, podcasts, and interactive components addressing various epilepsy-related topics.  In addition to Practice Management & Epilepsy, Epilog.us features content related to Women & Epilepsy and Epilepsy & Comorbidities.  Future topics to be featured on Epilog.us include:  Aging with Epilepsy and Pharmacokinetics and Drug Delivery. Upsher-Smith's central nervous system (CNS) pipeline includes a number of investigational drug programs for various indications within epilepsy, including USL255, USL261, and USL260.

About Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions.  More than two million people in the U.S. have some form of epilepsy with about 200,000 new cases of epilepsy diagnosed each year.²

About Upsher-Smith

Upsher-Smith, founded in 1919, is an independent and privately-owned specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Maple Grove, Minnesota that focuses on product growth and innovation for branded, branded-generic and generic pharmaceuticals.  Upsher-Smith has a particular focus on providing therapies to assist people suffering from central nervous system diseases (including epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease) and also markets products relating to cardiology, dermatology and women's health.  In addition to products currently marketed, Upsher-Smith has an emerging neurology pipeline with three products in clinical development, two of which are in Phase III clinical trials.  For more information, visit www.upsher-smith.com.

1.     Fountain NB, Van Ness PC, Swain-Eng R, Tonn S, Bever CT Jr; American Academy of Neurology Epilepsy Measure Development Panel and the American Medical Association-Convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement Independent Measure Development Process. Quality improvement in neurology: AAN epilepsy quality measures: Report of the Quality Measurement and Reporting Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology. 2011;76(1):94-99.

2.     Epilepsy Foundation. Available at: http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/.  Accessed on August 27, 2012.

SOURCE Upsher-Smith Laboratories